Special Projects

Aside from our villages, what are some of our existing special projects

afterschool projects for children from the local community in the village in Migdal HaEmek
This project is conducted in coordination with the local welfare services and is designed to provide support in strengthening children and families so that the welfare authorities will not need to remove them from their homes.

The Social Center in Qa'abiya is an after school program
designed for 15 children (in each center) ages 6-12, from the Bedouin village of Qa'abiya, which provides tutoring, activities, therapeutic interventions where needed and a warm meal to all the children. It is a joint project with the Ministry of Social Welfare and was opened in September 2009. It will serve as a model for planned future centers in other villages of minority populations in Israel. The reactions we have received from the families involved have been so positive that we are already considering to expand our activities to open a fourth center. This project is partially funded by the local council and partially by SOS Israel.

After-school centers in Tarabin - Negev
In cooperation with the Abu- Basma Regional Council which numbers approximately 50,000 “diaspora” Bedouins living in unrecognized villages outside the Council’s jurisdiction, three after-school centers are now fully operational.
The Ministry of Social Welfare has lent its cooperation to facilitate the first phase in this pilot project serving more than 45 children in Tarabin, a Bedouin village in the Negev desert. it offers a before and after school positive environment for Bedouin children of the area to help them grow and develop into achieving adults who can contribute positively to Israeli society.

SOS Israel youth delegation to Poland
This past March, we sent our second delegation, which came from our village in Arad, consisted of 14 of our children aged 16-17 and three adult staff members. This trip was a monumental undertaking by the village director and his staff, involving months of preparations, both educational and logistical. It was funded solely by donations and was recognized by the Ministry of Justice's Estate Fund to receive an in kind grant for up to 50% of the expenses of the trip. Since returning to Israel the 14 young members of the delegation have been processing their experience. We are confident that just as our first delegation (from April 2008) benefited greatly from the experience, these youth will grow from it as well. We look forward to sending future delegations and enlarging them in the future, subject to our ability to raise the needed funds to offer our youth, who otherwise would not have such a once in a lifetime experience.

The Emergency Shelter Unit in our village in Arad
Run in conjunction with the Ministry of Social Welfare is designed to accept children within hours of receiving notice of their referral, and serves as a temporary solution for up to 6 months, until alternative placements can be found for them. To date about one third of the close to 40 children placed in the unit, have been accepted into the village on a permanent basis.

A Graduates' Home in Arad
That has been rented, renovated and refurbished to provide a home for post high school graduates from this village, who are in need of temporary living quarters during or after their army or national service. We have begun to receive funding from SOS International to offer our services to graduates up until the age of 23. This project is being carried out with the assistance of an important international philanthropic fund. It is expected that within a year or two this facility will be totally full and we will have to expand into another site.

A Graduates' Home in Migdal Ha'Emek
Has been added through the addition of a floor to an already existent building. Like its brother in the south it will provide a continued home for our post high school graduates from this village, who are in need of temporary living quarters during or after their army or national service. We recently received permission from SOS International to offer our services up until the age of 23. The building project which has been completed was realized with a generous grant from an Israeli philanthropic foundation.

What are our future large development projects
In addition to the ongoing work in the villages and the previously mentioned projects there, we have a number of projects that are in the advanced planning stage:

An Intensive Social After school center for Bedouin children in the Abu Basma municipality. Designed for 30 children of the Drigat tribe, this center, which will be divided up between two separate sites, will add another layer to the services being offered in this community. The programming content will be similar to that of the center in Tarabin

A Family Strengthening Program in Qa'abiya designed to reach another 50 children and their families, providing concrete services to help alleviate their daily crisis and allow their children to continue their schooling unimpeded and so stay within the care of their biological families

A Family Strengthening Program for children of Abu Krinat Tribe near Dimona is designed to reach another 50 children and their families, providing concrete services to help alleviate their daily crisis and allow their children to continue their schooling unimpeded and so stay within the care of their biological families

A joint vocational training program for appropriate adolescents in our villages with surrounding factories and businesses run by nearby kibbutzim (collectives)

Over the last 10 years the social welfare state in Israel has been slowly dismantled. The results are that, according to government statistics, more than a quarter of the children in Israel are currently living under the poverty level. The resultant increase in domestic violence and abuse has created an even greater need to offer alternative settings as well as community based projects for the children and the youth of Israel. New needs are constantly arising and SOS Israel is in the forefront of answering those needs. With your help, for a specific project or for ongoing support, we will continue and increase the number of children we can reach and rescue from their difficult living circumstances.